Bicycle Film Festival Is Going to Be Wheelie Good, According to a Spokes-person

Biking is having a moment. Citi Bike is expanding, Andy Samberg just released his Tour de Pharmacy trailer, and Bicycle Fetish Day is quickly approaching. Which makes it a great time for the Bicycle Film Festival to roll into town. The fest will bring a week of screenings, live performances, exhibitions, and even a new animation program to Anthology Film Archives.

The animated shorts, curated by animator Lucinda Schreiber, will include Bike Portraits, a film about biking experiences in different cities and Yellow, a film about Tour de France winner Chris Froome.

Though that program’s lineup isn’t yet online, most of the fest’s schedule was just released, starting with a welcome party on June 20. On Wednesday at a church in Greenpoint, a screening of A Sunday in Hell, the 1976 documentary about that year’s grueling Paris–Roubaix race, will be accompanied by live music from Blonde Redhead and a chamber ensemble. Brendt Barbur, the festival’s founding director, advises: “If you can’t go to anything else, I would say go to that, which I don’t normally say with that much confidence.”

Before the film screenings begin on Saturday, two days are dedicated to Joyride, a mixed media exhibition, which has featured work by Erykah Badu in the past.

BFF is cruising into its 17th year of featuring films not only about bikes, but social and political issues too. Barbur is most excited about showcasing diversity in the film and cycling world, especially concerning women. His fellow programmers Schreiber and Mandy Weiss have helped select films that will do just that. “I think for us it’s really important that we include films by and about women,” he said. “Often that can be neglected within the film world, in the cycling world.” The films Cycologic, Mohamed and The Secret Truth of the Universe discuss issues about developing countries, refugees and safety concerns that many women have when going home alone at night.

(Still from Mohamed, Photo courtesy of Bicycle Film Festival)

(Still from Cycologic, Photo courtesy of Bicycle Film Festival)

(Still from The Secret Truth of the Universe, Photo courtesy of Bicycle Film Festival)

Other sections, the lineups to which aren’t yet online, show past picks that the curators and festival-goers can’t get enough of, like Bike Lane, a film about Casey Neistat getting ticketed by the NYPD for not riding in the bike lane, and The Cyclist, a love story about a couple searching for their stolen bike.

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Bedford + Bowery is where downtown Manhattan and north Brooklyn intersect. Produced by NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute in collaboration with New York magazine, B + B covers the East Village, Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, and beyond. Want to contribute? Send a tip? E-mail the editor.